Learning the Hard Way
by Vampir Liebhaber
Summary: this goes along with my other story The Ultimate Sin Couple, YOU NEED TO READ TO AT LEAST CHAPTER 4 TO UNDERSTAND! Yes it is a VA fanfic, it also has Beloved Dimitri later in the story! PLZ R&R and if you don't like it then dnt leve rude comments,has OC's
1. Workin' Out

***5 years ago(Ben was 16)***

Kevin, Taylor, and I are going out for what my sisters' call a 'Boy's day out', they are so weird. The three of us were flailed out on my bed waiting on my sister, Hannah, to finish primping so she could drop us off in town, my father doesn't trust me enough to drive so I have to wait on my sister to drive me everywhere.

"Dude, this really blows" Kevin finally said

"Yeah, you need to stop drinking so your dad will trust you more, your sister takes forever to do anything." Taylor agrees with anything anybody says.

"You pop pills like Tic Tacs" Kevin said, I'm know for putting my pills in Tic Tac containers…

"Yeah I know, but it's not that easy" I hate when people bother me about my habits

"Just quit, it's not that hard" I ignored Kevin and looked at my hands like the held the answer to my problems, if only that were true.

I heard a knock on my door "Kay guys, I'm ready" ah, perfect timing.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm outta here." I said getting up and opened the door

"Your room is too prefect Benny" Hannah said looking into my room, she knows how I despise the name 'Benny'

"Ah, but you see, it's a reflection of my self" I said putting my hands behind my head

"What ever" she said then went down the stair way, I laughed.

"Walk this way ladies" I said with a bit of fem in my voice, putting my left hand on my hip and my right in the air in a flippant way and started down the stairs.

I looked behind me"Excuse me bitches, but I said 'walk this way'" shaking my hips and hand. The two guys cracked up

"Kevin says he'll be your bitch tonight, right Kev?" Taylor said his face red from laughter. Everybody knows Kevin is gay; we just like to bug him.

"I don't know, Ben's so hammered sometimes, I don't think he'd notice the difference" Kevin said

"So, are you admitting to having gay sex, Kev?" I asked with a smug look on my face

"Shut up…Benny boy"

" WOW! That's some come back, not."

"oh fuck you" Kevin said

"Oh what's the matter, your pussy's having a bad day?" Taylor said between laughs

"Come on guys, get in the car" Hannah said when we reached the front door.

The drive was pretty quite, beside the random out bursts coming from Taylor trying to be funny.

When we finally reached the middle of town, Hannah turned off the car and we all got out.

"So, Kevin, how's your pussy feeling now" I asked, trying to sound serious…and failing.

He swung at me and I dodged"you missed dude" Shit! I let my guard down for a moment and he punch me in the nose. I bent down holding my nose and Kevin stood in front of me

"No I d…" I grabbed his legs before he could finish and yanked his feet out from underneath him.

"Ow, ow, ow ,ow, ow" somebody had a hold on my braid, it was Hannah.

"What the hell was that about?!" She yelled

"We were just bustin' his balls, jez" I said

"You guys are a bunch of jerks"

"What ever, go do your fem thang" I don't even know what she has to do, but to be quite frank, I don't care.

As the three of us walked down the street, Kevin was trying everything he could to stop his glasses from fogging up. Kevin is human, Taylor and I only talk to him during Christmas break, he doesn't know we're dhampirs that are training to be moroi guardians, he just thinks we get sent to a private school because our parents hate us. I hate lying to him but I hate a lot about myself, the drinking and the pills. my father doesn't know about the pills, I think he would freak if he found out. Some times I just want to be normal, go to a normal school and have a normal girlfriend and normal parents, but sometimes normal doesn't seem like its all cracked up to be, I mean Kevin could be considered normal, besides the gay part.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and asked "So, what do you guys want to do, because so far I'm bored"

"We could go to the gym" Taylor suggested while wiggling his eyebrows

"We could…" I said looking at Kevin, he seems pretty…frail, he don't have much beef at all, I was surprised he could punch as hard as he did.

"What?!?!" he said automatically defensive "You don't think I can work out"

"Well… OW!"Taylor started but I stomped his foot before he could say more. Kevin shoved in front of us and headed for the gym.

We walked in to the gym and I shot a wink at the girl behind the counter she giggled, I know I shouldn't flirt with humans but it has advantages.

I pealed off my jacket, it really wasn't that cold to me, I could've just went with a sweater…

Taylor whistled and rubbed his hands together "That has to be a dhamp girl" pointing at a brunette girl on the treadmill, she's been one since we walked in and hasn't even broke a sweat. She noticed us looking and winked, that's my opening. I strode right up to her, she turned off the machine and I handed her a towel.

"Thanks, you must be Ben" she said lightly

"Well, well, well, my name gets around fast" I said slyly

"I've heard much about you dhampir" she said putting her hands on her hips

I went to put my hand on hers but she slapped it away "No! You're a total player" and walked away

"It's good to know I'm loved" I muttered

"Dang dude, you just got burned. Hey maybe I have a chance" Taylor said then ran after the girl

Kevin walked up to us, cherry red and sweaty "Hey, you guys wanted to come here and all you did was flirt"

I quickly hopped on to the treadmill and turned it on "See, I'm running…well walking" it wasn't going very fast. An evil grin slid onto his face, he quickly turned the speed up, HIGH

"Oh, fuck" I said under my breath

***20 minutes later***

"Okay dude, this isn't funny" I panted out, all I could see was a blur of Kevin filing his nails, if I tried to turn down the speed then the treadmill would flip me out on the floor and if I jumped more than likely the same thing would happen plus the machine had no handles to hold onto, so in reality I'm at the mercy of a gay guy doing his nails.

"BLOODY HELL! KEVIN!!!!" I think my legs are going to die. Taylor was a few machines down laughing to death "Taylor!!!!! This isn't funny"

***Ten minutes later***

"Guys?!?!" I squeaked my voice was cracking from lack of oxygen. I heard a girl laughing from behind me

"Ouff" I rammed into the head of the treadmill, the girl that was at the counter turned the machine off.

"WOW, talk about stamina" she laughed, I didn't have the energy for a witty come back. I flopped off the treadmill onto the floor and just laid there, trying to get my wind back.

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot about you" Kevin said in fake shock, I pulled out my tic tac container of pills and threw two in my mouth and swallowed them dry.

"Your messed up dude, stop taking them" Taylor said kicking me in the side, nausea washed over me and I rushed to the locker room and vomited in the closest trash can. I walked over to the sink and rinsed out my mouth then looked at my reflection. I looked like bloody hell, my skin pale and blotchy, and my eyes blood shot. I lifted my shirt up and glanced and my abdomen, I was really skinny, if it wasn't for the muscles streaming under my skin I would look emaciated, I can't remember the last time I ate either. I heard the door open, I pushed my shirt down and leaned against the sink, trying to look like nothing was wrong when everything was wrong….


	2. I Have my Scars, You Have Yours now

***5 years ago(Ben was 16)***

Today is the last day of winter break, tomorrow I'll be on a plane back to England. The gym incident has gotten me a little shaken up, so I'm going to go to the city tonight for a few hours to clear my head.

"Kay guys, I'll be back in a few hours"

"Benjamin, where are you going at this time of night?" my father asked from the kitchen

"Oh, I just wanted to get a few things before going back to the academy"

"Okay then, call me when you get where your going"

I let out a frustrated sigh "yes father, but you know I'm not ten any more"

"I know that and I also know that you probably want to borrow my truck, am I right"

"Yes, you know I would rather drive"

He got up and walked up to me and said"If I find out you got drunk and drove home and don't wreak and get killed then I'll make sure you get killed, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir" I said with no emotion

"Then here" he said handing me the keys to his old truck. I walked out the door and went the beaten up old green truck and hopped in. I wonder how this thing still runs, it must be several years older than me for sure. It has no heat, no radio, and the seats are a piece of shit, but I'm not going to complain. It was a twenty minute drive to the city, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do I just wanted to go somewhere. I'm now kind of regretting only wearing a sweater because at night it is very chilly and the cold is now starting to seep through my skin. My body was betraying me, I started to shiver. Keeping my hand rigid on the steering wheel trying to ignore the cold, I nice beer was becoming very tempting. Time seemed to fly by, in no time at all I was pulling up and parking at a curb, turning off the truck it made a noise almost like groan, that can't be good. I made my way down the streets until I found what I wanted, a dealer. I slid into the alley way make not a sound, a scruffy young man maybe the age of twenty was crouched in a corner, possibly dhampir if I'm correct.

"Hey" I called out

"Go away boy, you don't know what you'll get your self into"

"Oh, but you see I have sunk both feet in now, I can't turn back. And I'm not as much of a boy as you think I am."

"Really? You look like boy, quit while you can"

I laughed with no humor "I can pay what ever price because its killing me now, might as well do it the right way"

"Foolish boy" he said and swiftly got up to me, he was no taller than me and he had scars on his neck and he looks stoned.

"Oh I see, you're a blood whore aren't you?" he had the scars of one "talk about a hypocrite. So is it as kinky as you thought it would be?"

"Are you looking for trouble boy, because I think you found it" he said then quickly pulled out a knife "and no, it was a stupid mistake just like the one your making now" I didn't know how to protect myself from a knife, so much for all the training they give us because its all useless.

"I don't make mistakes; I do everything for a reason"

"Your to cocky" he said, he lunged at me with the knife I tried to dodge but I wasn't fast enough. Searing pain tore through my right thigh, I yelled out in pain.

I woke up laying in an odd position in the alley way. I pulled out my phone, shit it was almost midnight; I was going to be dead because of my father unless I didn't die of blood loss first. I couldn't call for help, what would I say, yeah dad I was a jack ass and got myself stabbed could you come help me, I would be dead if I did that. I got up pain making my muscles twitch and limped out of the alley way. Putting my hands in my pocket I felt for my wallet and bottle, pulling them out a note dropped to the ground. I bent down to pick it up, a tearing feeling in my thigh caused me to gasp.

_I have my scares from my mistakes you have one from yours, thanks for the cash much appreciated._

I opened up my wallet, I only had thirty five dollars left out of a hundred and there where more pills in my container. My pant leg was soaked with blood and I probably looked like an ax murderer, I rubbed my face with my hands, what was I going to do. My leg probably needs stitches…oh! I know, but first I need to get to a drug store that was still open. I limped down the street the wet blood oozing down my leg making me feel even colder. I finally found a 24/7 drug store and walked in, breathing in the warm air was much nicer that the icy cold outside air.

Limping past the register going to the medical section the young woman at the register called to me "Hey, are you alright? Do you need me to call somebody for you?"

"No, I'll live" I winced again at my leg. Grabbed all the supplies I needed, rubbing alcohol, antibacterial ointment, butterfly bandages, cotton, and bandaging tape.

I brought everything to the register and the woman looked at me bug eyed "What happened to you anyway?"

"It's a long story that I care not the explain"

"Okay…do you at least need help?"

"Not unless you're a nurse" I said dryly not expecting her to say more

"Well a mater a factly, I am. I'm only here tonight filling in for a friend" she proudly said

"Well then this isn't as bad of a day as I thought" I sighed. She pulled up a stool for me to sit on, I pulled up my pant leg to my thigh, and the gash look like it came right from a horror flick. I don't know why I'm wondering this but if this happened to Kevin how would he even get those tight jeans he wears off?

"This is going to sting a little just to warn you" she said opening the bottle of alcohol.

"By the way, what's your name, you haven't told me or are you going to stay mysterious?" she asked but poured the alcohol in the wound before I could say anything, I gasped out.

"I think I'm going to stay mysterious" I said after some of the pain let up.

"Ok then Mr. Mysterious" she said smileing, pouring more alcohol in the gash and rubbing it with a cotton ball.

"BLODDY HELL! Do you enjoy causing people pain" I wined

"No just fixing things. Winey boy, your going to have to go too the hospital and get stitches in this I can only clean it enough to stop the bleeding"

"No, I'm not going to a hospital"

"You need to" she said finishing putting on the butterflies** (AN for those who do not know, butterflies are a special type of bandage that holds the skin together on a wound, kinda like stitches)**

"I'm not going"

"This is going to get infected and could kill you if you don't" she said pulled the bandaging tape tight.

"Oww, not so tight"

"Well, I'm all done, but you really need to go to the hospital"

"Thanks" I said to the woman then gingerly pulled down my pant leg. The woman said don't worry about paying for the stuff, so that left me with the thirty five dollars, more than enough to get something to eat. I stopped by a fast food restraint and got two burgers and a soda. The junk food tasted so good, the academy never has junky food like this. Now that I have eaten after lord knows how many days, I have to go home and face my father…oh joy.


	3. I'm not a Boy, I'm a Man

I turned off the truck and snuck in the back door, so far no signs of life. I crept up the stair, nearly having a heart attack when the floor squeaked. I could see the light coming from underneath my room door, I can't remember if I turned the lights off when I left of not. Reaching for the door knob my heart was pounding, I could feel the blood trying to pulse out my leg, keeping a constant flow of pain in me. He was there, my father, sitting on my bed with my journal beside him. I swear my face turned white, he more than likely read my journal, I write everything in it, even things about the drugs and drinking I would have never thought somebody would read it besides me.

"Benjamin Levi, come here" he said in a surprisingly soft tone, I respected him to a point…because he's my father but at times I wish I didn't know him. I crossed the room slowly trying not to limp.

"I guess we need to talk, am I right?" I knew it was coming

"We do son, we do. But first off, what happened to your leg?"

"I caught it on the fence, it's nothing really" I said, covering the bloodied rip in my jeans with my hand as I sat down. He gave me a skeptical look but didn't say anything.

After a little bit my father broke the silence "Why did you hide it from me, Ben?"

"You read it didn't you" gesturing to the book, avoiding the question.

"I did"

"What happened to respecting another man's property? I'm not a boy, Dad" I didn't say 'Dad' on a loving way, I felt like yelling and destroying something, I felt like I was ready to explode.

"I'm your father Ben; I have the right to see what's going on in my son's life. I rarely get to see you any more, every time I see you, you've gotten older, grown taller, matured. I wanted to be there seeing you grow up, but that's not reality." he paused for a moment"What about all of those girls?"

"What about them?"

"Did you have any love for them or were they just to 'get your mind off of things'" he asked, quoting me from my journal

"To love is to destroy, everything I ever loved was destroyed. I don't love anything or anybody."

"What about your two sisters, don't you love them?"

"I care for them but I will not love them, I don't want to hurt them"

"So, you don't love your sisters, you don't love all your girlfriends-"

I cut him off"THERE NOT MY GIRLFRIENDS! You try to understand me but you never will, you can't so don't even try"

"I do understand you, Ben, I may not be a dhampir but, I was just like you. I used to drink, I wish I had told you before you got hooked too." He paused, probably expecting me to say something, but I stayed quite "Your uncle, you know he died a few years back, nobody ever told you from what"

"No, they didn't think I could handle it, but killing is my job, it won't faze me."

"Yes…He died of kidney failure, he was a heavy drinker and he only had a lung and a half because all of the smoking tobacco. Ben, you're a healthy young man, I don't want you to die early. What if you took to many pills, you know what could happen."

"I do know, but sometimes it's easier to not think about it."

"Well, you know what; you need to start thinking about your actions and the side effects because I don't want to bury because of stupidity." After that, he got up and left. Surprisingly sleep came easy, I'm going to have to figure out something to do with my leg, how am I going to heal if I'm training. Life sucks, sometimes I just want it to end…

**Yeah…I know that was short, but I was kinda crucial part to the story…**


	4. Oh Fuck

I slept through most of the flight back to England and now I'm unpacking, I'm afraid my leg _is_ infected. I don't know what I should do… Guardian Belikov **(Not Dimitri, his cousin…I'll explain later in the chapter)** thinks we should go back to training to night, I can barely walk let alone run a mile and a half, this really sucks, I'm just going to have to suffer through it I guess. I finished unpacking and lay down…

Somebody was shaking me "Hey TTB, wakey wakey, we have practice in like…ten minutes"

I was up in an instant"whu..What? Hey, don't call me that!" I looked; it was my room mate, Antony. TTB was short for Tick Tac Ben, it was kinda my private nick name, I really hated it.

"We got practice in ten minutes, get your ass up or Belikov is gunna kick your ass" He said over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

Fuck! I quickly pealed off my normal clothes, I couldn't wear shorts like I normally do, the bandaging may show and I get really hot in sweat pants, I guess they'll have to do. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the pants over my leg, just the slightest touch hurts.

I did my best to run down to the gym, but every body has already started stretches.

"Oh look, it's Benjamin! Your going to honor us with your presence now are you?" Jacob yelled, he was leading the stretches.

Exaggerated a sigh "I know I'm just that great"

"You _are_ great Ben" Sally said, my latest victim…She was short, had red curly hair, and big boobs, let's just say she's easy on the eyes. I winked at her.

"Pretty Boy, get to work, this isn't Flirt 101" ah, beloved Belikov, not. He always follows my every move. He treats me like his own son, no slack. Grigory Belikov**(No, I didn't spell the name wrong…its Russian for Gregory)** is a big man, some novices and even some guardians are intimidated by him. He was at least 6'9", his skin weathered and tan. He was very rough and bulky but still agile, I think he's in his early thirties, but could be mistaken for older and he always called me 'Pretty Boy'. His cousin is also very well known, Dimitri Belikov, he was only 19 but has a hell of a reputation.

We finished stretches and I started to feel pretty sick and I my leg hurt a lot. The whole class started for the indoor track, we have to run a mile and a half. Belikov always runs in the back of the group to make sure no horsing around goes on with the seniors, going to have to keep up at least in the middle of the group so he wouldn't notice my limp. After about a quarter mile, I was getting agonizing pain shouting through my leg and I was sweating heavily, my body's screaming at me to stop. I felt a hand on my shoulder, it startled me.

"Ben, stop" it was Guardian Belikov. I stopped and stood to the side of the track, a couple of people looked back at use and spoke hush words to there neighboring runners, I was completely out of breath and my heart was racing, I put my hand to my leg, my hand was scarlet red, Fuck! My leg was bleeding again.

"I caught my leg on the fence at my father's place, it's no big deal"

"Uh hu, sit down and let me see it"

"It's no big deal, really, it's just a scratch"

"Sit, Pretty Boy! I'm not playing around" he growled, I sat down on a nearby bench by the wall.

"Role your pant leg up." I rolled my pant leg up "Just a scratch, huh" he said looking at the darkened bandage. He took a small pocket knife and slid the cold blade between my skin and the bandaging tape. As he peeled away the gauze, I bit my lip, the gash looked horrid. He smacked the back of my head.

"Ow, what was that for?" I yelled

"For being a liar, asshole" he said casual, which kinda creped me out. "Now, tell what really happened"

"I got stabbed" I muttered under my breath

"What?!?!?!?!"

"I got stabbed, okay. Are you Happy now?"

"No, I'm utterly disgusted with you, now keep pressure on that till I get back" He jogged off but before he left the track he yelled at a group of freshies "Stop gawking and pay attention to what your doing"

**Second Person POV**

Ben stretched out on the bench and drifted into unconsciousness.

"Do you ever listen to me? " Grigory said as he came back with a role of gauze.

"Ben, get up" he said a little worried, he shook Ben's shoulder "Ben? Benjamin wake up. Oh lord…" Grigory rewrapped Ben's leg then lifted his light body. Grigory strode swiftly through the halls, some students still lingering in the halls pointed and whispered.

"Oh my god is that Benny?" a moroi girl with black hair asked a red head moroi next to her "Ohmygosh! I think it is, I hope he's alright" the red head said

Grigory reach the medical clinic with Ben's limp body and pushed the door open with his shoulder.

"Goodness Grigory, what has happened?" Dr. Wagner asked**(Its German, so it pronounced Vagner)**

"I would say ask him, but that would be a little complicated."

"Do you know anything?"

"He said he got stabbed, looked like to me about a day ago and he was bound and determined to go on like normal, he must have broke the wound open running. It's about low thigh just above the knee; I don't know how deep it is. He is also malnourished and dehydrated" Grigory said as he set Ben on an open bed.

"Annalisa, please get me some pain killers and fluids" Dr. Wagner said to a nurse

"No, he wants to be treated like a man then he gets the whole package, I also don't trust him with any kind of drug" Grigory said

"But what if he wakes up?" The nurse, Annalisa, asked

"Then he'll have to deal with it." Grigory said as he shrugged off his sweat shirt.

"I know you have a good gut feeling Grigory, so I'm going to go with it. Annalisa, just fluids then." Dr. Wagner said, as she pulled up Ben's pant leg. The gauze Grigory reapplied to Ben's leg was already soaked with blood.

Dr. Wagner removed all of the old bandaging and cleaned the wound

Dr. Wagner finished cleaning the wound "Oh Goddess, I can't stitch it because of the infection so we'll have to change the bandaging about twice a day, he'll also have to be on antibiotics. It's going to be a horrid scar."

"He'll have more…if he even makes it to eighteen. He's also on drugs, what are you going to do about that?" Grigory said looking at his own scar running up the length of his arm which he got from a fight with a strigori.

"Well-" Dr. Wagner started but Ben wakening up interrupted her

"Why the hell dose my leg feel like it got ran over by a semi?" Ben asked, still laying down with his eyes shut.

"Because you're an idiot, you nearly killed your self"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that…"

"HOW COULD YOU?!?!"

"Heh, I knew you would blow up, I was awake most of the time…thanks to you with your 'He wants to be a man' act"

"Looks like to me you were fine with out them"

"Oh really?" Ben asked "Have you looked at the bed?" pointing at the rips in the bed where he was griping.

"So, you faked the fainting?"

"Oh no, that was real I guess. I woke up when you put me on the bed then I drifted off again then woke again when a certain some one pulled something out of my leg…" he said like it was a every day occurrence while glaring at Dr. Wagner

**There ya go kiddies!!!! I'm really enjoying writing this story…but really it only has a few more chapters left, maybe two more in this time period and maybe a another three chapters in another time period…IDK but plz review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	5. You gota little grey there

***The Next Day***

**Grigory's Point of View**

"Grig, your shift is over, aren't you going to go rest?" Amelia asked, a close friend of mine and fellow guardian. I normally take last shift just before morning because I like how the sun looks when it sets and the bats emerge for there caves hunting for insects.

"I'm going to see Pretty Boy first"

"God, that boy is like a toddler! Do you hold his hand when he takes a crap too?"

"He's worse than a toddler, and no I take responsibility for him, it's not like that filthy human dose, it's that man's fault Ben is even in there."

"True, well have fun…make sure you get some sleep we need our head guardian well rested" she winked the walked off, I shook my head and ran my hand through my short hair, I always thought it was silly for a man to have long hair and to shave his face clean like a boy's, I've heard some of the students in the hallway say I look like a "man's man" I just thought it was funny.

Dr. Wagner had Ben on bed rest for a day or two so he was in one of the spare clinic rooms. When I reached his door I heard giggles from a girl and him talking, great just great.

I opened the door and stood in the door way "Ah hem, can't keep your hands off your girlfriend for one day can you?" He looked up and glared, he was sitting up with his bad leg stretched out and bandaged with a red headed dhampir girl sitting cross legged in front of him.

"She's not my girlfriend" He said, the girl looked at him in disbelief.

"How could you say that!" she screamed hitting his bad leg. He snapped forward groaning in pain and cursing, the girl slid past me leaving.

After some of his pain lessened he said"Why did you do that?"

I laughed "Why did _you_ say that?"

"I don't have loved ones" he said nonchalantly leaning back against the head board of the bed.

"You're a cold hearted bastard, aren't you?"

"I don't know, doesn't seem like the old man has any lover"

"I'm not that old and you only know me from a student point of view." I said sitting on the edge of the bed.

He looked at me for a moment then said "you have a grey hair" then smirked.

I ran my hand through my hair again "No I don't"

"It's in your beard" he was smiling now

I had a short scruffy beard "No I don't, goldie locks"

"Hey I rather be the golden boy than grey beard" he joked

"Enough!" I growled

"God, bite my head off why don't you"

**Ben's Point of View**

After a long silence Belikov asked "So, do you care to talk to me?"

"Not particularly" I answered, looking down.

"I think you should" he said

"I don't think I need to, I don't like relying upon others"

"I'm here for you Ben, you know that"

I didn't say anything, so he continued "You don't get along with for dad, do you?" I shrugged. "I didn't get along with mine either. I always thought he was an asshole, I'm sure that's what you think of yours"

"He tries to understand me, but he can't, I don't even know why he tries"

"He means well Ben."

"I know" He dropped the subject

"Why are you doing this to your body Ben, but a year ago you were a healthy vibrant young man. How much do you weight?"

"I don't know, like 100 pounds"

"That's too light for you, your what 5'10"?"

"yeah, I've been busy and forgot to eat a couple times, it's no big deal"

"When you say it's 'no big deal' it is with you. Your body can't hold up like this Ben and with your leg you carelessly wrapped and forgot about it! That could have killed you."

I heard a knock on the door and Dr. Wagner walked in with her tray of torture devises.

He set his hand on my shoulder and said "I have to go, I'll make sure some one brings you your assignments"

"Oh gee, you're the greatest" I said sarcastically

"I try to be" he laughed then left

"Here to torture me again?" I asked

"You could call it that or you can call it saving your and life."

"Eh, I'll stay with the torture, it sounds better"

She laughed "Here, put this under your tongue" she said handing me one of those stupid little temperature taking thing.**(AN I've been wracking my brain like all day can't figure out what it's called, yes you can call me a blonde. Tomorrow I'll be like"oh I'm such a fucking idiot why didn't I know that!") **It beeped an I handed it back to her

"Your temperature has gone down, that's a good thing"

"Dose that mean you can let me out of here today?"

"No" she said, cutting the bandaging tape away from my leg.

"Damn, it's really boring in here"

"This is also a punishment, Benjamin, not an extra day of vacation" she finished removing the bandage and asked"Did you it you leg on something, Ben?"

"Uh…kinda"

"Benjamin." She said like it was then end of a sentence

"Yeah?" I asked smugly, she shook her head and sighed.

**Ok! What did cha tink? Tell me in the review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The next chapter will be up soon….as for my art, well I tried to draw a pic of Grigory using a pic of Ben Barnes as a ref. well lets say it didn't come out to well, it looked like a half bald man on dope with his face half way down his head, it wasn't pretty sight**


	6. The Alternative

_1/10/03 Wednesday _

_It's been several days since I've wrote but I finally got around to writing…I mean I'm just soooo busy. I still can't believe my dad read it, it still pisses me off. Any who, I never knew how much sleep you get when your bored…I guess I needed it. I might get out of here today, I've been here for two days and I'm about to lose it. Taylor brought me most of my assignments, all but my algebra 2, Joshua got that. Taylor, he always complains that I'm smart but dumb at the same time, I guess he's kinda right, I do some pretty stupid shit. I still haven't figured out the point of taking advanced math, I don't see when I'll ever need it, I mean basic math yeah, but I don't think a strigori gives a shit if you know algebraic expressions. My leg still hurts a lot; I don't know if the doc made it better of worse, even the short walk across the room to the bathroom was work. She's also practically been forcing food in me, I really haven't had an appetite for days now, just eating because I was told too. The antibiotic pills taste like crap and turn my stomach but I take them any ways. Dr. Wagner says that I could be weeks or it could be months before I can go back to training, but she also said if I do what I'm suppose to do like take my medicine, don't over exercise, eat healthy, and get plenty of rest, then I should heal pretty quickly…Hopefully._

I heard a knock on the door and quickly slid my journal under my pillow. Annalisa came in with another meal; they have me eating four times a day, uh.

"Ding, Ding, Here's your gourmet brunch" she said smiling

"Oh wow, I'm just delighted" I said sarcastically. She handed me a tray with eggs, and some sort of brown thing which I'm assuming is meat, a biscuit** (AN 'biscuit' English COOOOKIE!!!!)**, an apple, and tea. I quickly snatched up the biscuit, which was one of the few things that I actually wanted to eat, sugary goodness.

"When you're done eating, take these." Annalisa said putting a little cup with two large pills, the antibiotics, on my bedside table.

I poked at the meat for a moment "What's this?" I asked wrinkling my nose

"Its country fried stake…or so the cafeteria menu says"

"It looks like it could come to life and eat me"

"You're so picky"

"I'm not hungry"

"You're going to eat it."

"Do I have to?"

"No, but I don't think you would like the alternative" she said looking at her nails

"What's the alternative?"

"We shove a pipe down your throat and pour liquefied food into your stomach" she said casually, I cringed at the thought then shut up and ate.

Annalisa left after I ate and about an hour later Dr. Wagner came in.

"Hallo Benjamin."

"Am I getting out of this joint?"

"Yes, yes you are, under some conditions"

"Okay…"


	7. Jokes on You

"GOD! THIS IS STUPID!" I yelled, slamming down the dirty food trays on the counter, rolling my sleeves up again

"God has nothing to do with this. This is between you, Dr. Wagner, Head Mistress, and Guardian Belikov, not me. I'm just here to watch you make sure you do as told" Guardian Marnez Anastasia said from his corner of the kitchen. The condition for me to get out of the medical clinic was for me to have some sort of non-physically demanding job, while every body else gets to practice and hang out with friends. So I'm stuck with a Latino fag** (No offence if your Latino/Latina)** and a bunch of old ladies, washing dishes for the times the other novices are in training.

I quietly finished the trays and leaned against the counter.

"You missed a utensil" Marnez pointed out

"Ass hole" I muttered under my breath, too low for him to hear.

"Are you done my dear?" one of the older ladies, I believe her name was Melinda asked

"I have one more thing to wash, ma'am" I finished washing the stupid spoon Marnez pointed out then turned to her "Ok, can I go now?"

"I believe so my dear, but would you like something to eat first?"

"Ah…" I didn't really

"Yes Melinda, he has a ravenous appetite, right Mr. Becker" Marnez said, giving me 'the look'

Melinda smiled then walked back into the cooking area.

"You're such a drama queen Ben."

"I'm not a drama queen" I said coarsely

"What ever you say, Ben, what ever you say"

"Yeah, and I say I'm not a drama queen" I snapped

Marnez stood up to his full height, which wasn't much, feet squared and shoulders back "I don't know how you speak to Grigory, but your not going to speak that way to me, so watch your tongue." He said while failing to get in my face, he was several inches shorter than I.

"Tea?" Melinda asked and she came back.

"Yes, please." Marnez said

She handed Marnez and I a cup and a plate with a sandwich to me also "There you go Benjamin, I made some herbal tea, it's good for aches and pains" she smiled warmly

"Thank you, ma'am"

"You can call me Melinda if you want dear. Well I must finish shutting down the kitchen for the night. Thank you for the help." Melinda said then left

"She seems a bit uh…" I started looking for the right word

"Loco? Yes, But she's a witch and that's how they are" Marnez said, I took a drink of my tea, it was sweet and minty but the sandwich wasn't quite as nice, it tasted a lot like tongue. I choked down the sandwich and finished my tea. I slipped on my warm vest over my flannel shirt and grabbed the crutch Dr. Wagner wanted me to use when I was walking about, like that was going to happen.

"In a rush are we? Just so excited about doing your assignments?" Marnez asked, and then laughed.

"No, I feel like a prune and I have to check in with the doc." I said looking at my hands

Marnez looked at his watch "You have an hour and a half before curfew"

"Okay, good night Mar… uh, Guardian Anastasia" I said leaving the cafeteria and going out into the terrible weather. He ground was covered in slurry of rain and snow, sticking to my boots and wetting the bottom of my jeans. My leg was sore but not as bad as before, felt too silly using the crutch so I just carried it. I walked into the medical clinic, it was pretty quite, and normally there are a few people in for a pulled muscle or something, but tonight no one.

"Good evening Ben, I'm glade you remembered" Dr. Wagner said when she saw me walk in.

"My big head has to be good for something, right?" I smartly said, she chuckled

"I presume. Have you remembered to drink plenty of fluids? And vodka doesn't count."

"Are you saying I drink?" I said trying to cover what I hope she doesn't know.

"Benjamin, don't play dumb, I know you drink" she said giving me a stern look. I didn't say anything, she took care of my leg, gave me some more antibiotic and I was on my way. I used the crutch for about thirty seconds, until I was out of sight.

I made my way to the male dhampir dorms and came across Taylor.

"ey, how's a ther red skin imself doang" Taylor said swaying back and forth, defiantly drunk, I wonder if I look like that when I'm trashed.

"Wow, how many have you had my man?" I asked, did I act like this when I was wasted?

"OOOOOOOOOh, just er fewwww….." he slured"Common buddy, lets go, I wuss lookin fer you any whhhhay" he said slinging his arm around my shoulder standing on my right side, the side with my hurt leg.

"I hope you don't expect me to hold you up, I can barely hold my self up" I said

"Oh, I don't need you to old me urp, I'm strong" he thundered, hitting his chest.

"Uh huh" was all I said. We stumble along to Taylors room, when we got there you could see old scratch marks on the door from other times he was drunk and jabbed the key into the wood many times, which was what he did again this time. When he finally got the door open a small crowd of people sitting and standing silent looking at me.

"What happened? A couple of days and everybody hates me?" I said in a joking way

Everybody stayed quite.

"Um…" bloody hell.

Taylor started laughing and put his hand on my shoulder "That was funny guys, he fell for it, hook, line, and sinker" other people started to laugh

"How was that funny?" I asked, somewhat confused

"You should have seen the look on your face, it was hilarious!" Taylor said, obviously not as drunken as he was acting before.

"What ever you say, man" I said as I took a seat on the couch next to probably the hottest girl at the academy, Helena Brown.

**Okay, that was the last chapter of Ben at age 16, leave a review and tell me what age (over 16) you want to read about for the next few chapters.**

**-Poppy**


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